MWRA plans $45.6M pumping facility

Wednesday

Apr 30, 2014 at 12:01 AMApr 30, 2014 at 7:23 AM

By Kendall HatchDaily News Staff

MARLBOROUGH – The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority plans to spend $45.6 million on a new pumping station in Marlborough to provide a backup for the system that brings drinking water from central Massachusetts to Boston and the surrounding communities.The agency plans to build the pumping station on land it already owns near the John J. Carroll Water Treatment Plant, which treats water pumped to Marlborough from the Wachusett Reservoir, according to an environmental notification form sent to the city from the MWRA.The new pumping station will allow the Wachusett Aqueduct to serve as a viable backup system for the Cosgrove Tunnel, the route untreated drinking water currently takes from the reservoir to Marlborough.Water from the Wachusett Reservoir was at one time pumped through the Wachusett Aqueduct, but the Cosgrove Tunnel, which provided higher water pressure, replaced the aqueduct in 1966.Fred Laskey, executive director of the MWRA, said during a phone interview Tuesday that the Wachusett Aqueduct can serve as a backup system if the Cosgrove Tunnel had to be taken offline due to an emergency or maintenance, but a boil order would have to be instituted in order for the water to be considered potable for drinking.Laskey said that the aqueduct comes into Marlborough at too low of an elevation to flow into the treatment plant. The new facility will pump the water from the aqueduct up into the treatment plant where it can then be treated and sent down the line to the 44 towns and cities that use MWRA water.The station would only come online during an emergency or maintenance, but will be tested and maintained regularly, according to a project description.Laskey said that the new station will include a number of features to reduce emissions and increase efficiency, including solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling."It will be a state-of-the-art building," he said.The project will also include security upgrades at the nearby Carroll Water Treatment Plant, including a new entrance onto the site.The pumping station in Marlborough is one of a number of steps in an MWRA plan to create redundancy in the system that carries water from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs to Boston and surrounding towns and cities, Laskey said.Last year, the agency finished up a rehabilitation project for the Hultman Aqueduct, which runs from Marlborough to Weston. The aqueduct was replaced by the MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel in 2003 and now serves as a backup.Laskey said that the MWRA hopes to put the Marlborough project out to bid this spring. The environmental notification form lists an estimated completion date of 2017.Kendall Hatch can be reached at 508-490-7453 or khatch@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kendall_HatchMW.